Dales, CA
How exposed is Dales to wildfire?
USFS scores Dales at the 95th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (in USFS's highest wildfire-risk band nationally), a figure built from 37 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Dales at the 96th percentile, close to its 95th-percentile risk score.
Dales's building exposure, zone by zone
37 buildings are counted in Dales, and 100% of them sit in USFS's Direct exposure zone — flame contact, not just ember cast, is the live possibility for most of them, against 0% rated Minimal.
Dales against the rest of the country
Dales's 95th national percentile looks worse in isolation than its 74th ranking inside California does — this place is on the milder end for its own state, by 21 points. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Dales ranks 1,533 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 31,223 by building count (1 is largest). Within California alone, it ranks 404 of 1,570 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for California on its state page.
Shopping for coverage in Dales
Dales sits in California, one of two states that legally require a wildfire-risk disclosure at sale. California's FAIR Plan, the state's insurer of last resort, ended 2025 with 668,609 residential policies after adding 21,859 in Q4 alone — the kind of market shift a 95th-percentile score like Dales's can end up mattering for. More on the disclosure law.
Hardening a home in Dales
Because Direct exposure dominates in Dales (100%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
Where Dales's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 37 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Dales. The exposure-zones guide covers what Dales's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.